GK and Current Affairs Updates

The Padma Bhushan is the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan, but comes before the Padma Shri. It is announced on the occasion of Republic Day of India every year. It is conferred by the President of India at a function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan sometime around March/ April.

1. Smt Prathibha Prahlad — Art- Classical Dance — Delhi
2. Shri Bhikhudan Gadhvi — Art- Folk Music — Gujarat
3. Shri Sribhas Chandra Supakar — Art- Textile Designing — Uttar Pradesh
4. Shri Ajay Devgn — Art-Cinema — Maharashtra
5. Ms Priyanka Chopra — Art-Cinema — Maharashtra
6. Pt Tulsidas Borkar — Art-Classical Music — Goa
7 Dr Soma Ghosh — Art-Classical Vocal — Uttar Pradesh
8. Shri Nila Madhab Panda — Art-Film Direction and Production — Delhi
9. Shri SS Rajamouli — Art-Film Direction and Production — Karnataka
10 Shri Madhur Bhandarkar — Art-Film Direction and Production — Maharashtra
11. Prof M Venkatesh Kumar — Art-Folk Artist — Karnataka
12. Ms Gulabi Sapera — Art-Folk Dance — Rajasthan
13. Smt Mamta Chandrakar — Art-Folk Music — Chhattisgarh
14 Ms Malini Awasthi — Art-Folk Music — Uttar Pradesh
15. Shri Jai Prakash Lekhiwal — Art-Miniature Painting — Delhi
16. Shri K Laxma Goud — Art-Painting — Telangana
17. Shri Bhalchandra Dattatray Mondhe — Art-Photography — Madhya Pradesh
18. Shri Naresh Chander Lal — Art-Theatre & Cinema — Andaman & Nicobar
19. Shri Dhirendra Nath Bezbaruah — Literature & Education — Assam
20. Shri Prahlad Chandra Tasa — Literature & Education — Assam
21. Dr Ravindra Nagar — Literature & Education — Delhi
22. Shri Dahyabhai Shastri — Literature & Education — Gujarat
23. Dr Santeshivara Bhyrappa — Literature & Education — Karnataka
24. Shri Haldar Nag — Literature & Education — Odisha
25. Shri Kameshwaram Brahma — Literature & Education -Journalism — Assam
26. Prof Pushpesh Pant — Literature & Education-Journalism — Delhi
27. Shri Ashok Malik — Literature & Education — Delhi
28. Dr Mannam Gopi Chand — Medicine-Cardio Thoracic Surgery — Telangana
29. Prof Ravi Kant — Medicine-Surgery — Uttar Pradesh
30. Prof Ram Harsh Singh — Medicine- Ayurveda — Uttar Pradesh
31. Prof Shiv Narain Kureel — Medicine- Paediatric Surgery — Uttar Pradesh
32. Dr Sabya Sachi Sarkar — Medicine -Radiology — Uttar Pradesh
33. Dr Alla Gopala Krishna Gokhale — Medicine-Cardiac Surgery — Andhra Pradesh
34. Prof TK Lahiri — Medicine-Cardio Thoracic Surgery — Uttar Pradesh
35. Dr Praveen Chandra — Medicine-Cardiology — Delhi
36. Prof (Dr) Daljeet Singh Gambhir — Medicine-Cardiology — Uttar Pradesh
37. Dr Chandrasekar Shesadri Thoguluva — Medicine-Gastroenterology — Tamil Nadu

38. Dr (Mrs) Anil Kumari Malhotra — Medicine-Homeopathy — Delhi
39. Prof MV Padma Srivastava — Medicine-Neurology — Delhi
40. Dr Sudhir V Shah — Medicine-Neurology — Gujarat
41. Dr MM Joshi — Medicine-Ophthalmology — Karnataka
42. Prof (Dr) John Ebnezar — Medicine-Orthopaedic Surgery — Karnataka
43. Dr Nayudamma Yarlagadda — Medicine-Paediatric Surgery — Andhra Pradesh
44. Shri Simon Oraon — Other -Environment Conservation — Jharkhand
45. Shri Imitiaz Qureshi — Other-Culinary — Delhi
46. Shri Piyush Pandey — Others-Advertising & Communication — Maharashtra
47 Shri Subhash Palekar — Others-Farming — Maharashtra
48. Shri Ravinder Kumar Sinha — Others-Wildlife Conservation — Bihar
49. Dr HR Nagendra — Others-Yoga — Karnataka
50. Shri MC Mehta — Public Affairs — Delhi
51. Shri MN Krishna Mani — Public Affairs — Delhi
52. Shri Ujjwal Nikam — Public Affairs — Maharashtra
53. Shri Tokheho Sema — Public Affairs — Nagaland
54. Dr Satish Kumar — Science & Engineering — Delhi
55. Dr Mylswamy Annadurai — Science & Engineering — Karnataka
56. Prof Dipankar Chatterji — Science & Engineering — Karnataka
57. Prof(Dr) Ganapati Dadasaheb Yadav — Science & Engineering — Maharashtra
58. Smt (Prof) Veena Tandon — Science & Engineering — Meghalaya
59. Shri Onkar Nath Srivastava — Science and Engineering — Uttar Pradesh 
60. Ms Sunita Krishnan — Social Work — Andhra Pradesh
61. Shri Ajoy Kumar Dutta — Social Work — Assam
62. Shri M Pandit Dasa — Social Work — Karnataka
63. Shri PP Gopinathan Nair — Social Work — Kerala
64. Smt Madeleine Herman de Blic — Social Work — Puducherry
65. Shri Srinivasan Damal Kandalai — Social work — Tamil Nadu
66. Shri Sudhakar Olwe — Social Work — Maharashtra
67. Dr TV Narayana — Social Work — Telangana
68. Shri Arunachalam Murugantham — Social Work — Tamil Nadu
69. Ms Deepika Kumari — Sports-Archery — Jharkhand
70. S Shri Sushil Doshi — Sports-commentary — Madhya Pradesh
71. Shri Mahesh Sharma — Trade & Industry — Delhi
72. Shri Saurabh Srivastava — Trade & Industry — Delhi
73. Sh Dilip Sanghvi — Trade & Industry — Maharashtra
74. Dr Keki Hormusji Gharda — Trade & Industry — Maharashtra
75. Late Shri Prakash Chand Surana (Posthumous) — Art -Classical Music — Rajasthan
76. Late Shri Saeed Jaffrey (NRI/PIO/Posthumous) — Art-Cinema — UK
77. Shri Michael Postel (Foreigner) — Art-Archaeology — France
78. Shri Salman Amin Sal Khan (NRI/PIO) — Literature & Education — USA
79. Smt Hui Lan Zhang (Foreigner) — Others-Yoga — China
80. Shri Predrag K Nikic (Foreigner) — Others-Yoga — Serbia
81. Dr Sundar Aditya Menon (NRI/PIO) — Social Work — UAE
82 Shri Ajaypal Singh Banga (NRI/PIO) — Trade & Industry — US

The Padma Bhushan is the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan, but comes before the Padma Shri. It is announced on the occasion of Republic Day of India every year. It is conferred by the President of India at a function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan sometime around March/ April.

1. Shri Anupam Kher — Art-Cinema — Maharashtra

2. Shri Udit Narayan Jha — Art-Playback Singing — Maharashtra
3. Shri Ram V Sutar — Art-Sculpture — Uttar Pradesh
4. Shri Heisnam Kanhailal — Art-Theatre — Manipur
5. Shri Vinod Rai — Civil Service — Kerala
6. Dr Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad — Literature & Education — Andhra Pradesh
7. Prof NS Ramanuja Tatacharya — Literature & Education — Maharashtra
8. Dr Barjinder Singh Hamdard — Literature & Education - Journalism — Punjab
9. Prof D Nageshwar Reddy — Medicine-Gastroenterology — Telangana
10. Swami Tejomayananda — Other-Spiritualism — Maharashtra
11. Shri Hafeez Contractor — Others-Architecture — Maharashtra
12. Shri Ravindra Chandra Bhargava — Public Affairs — Uttar Pradesh
13. Dr Venkata Rama Rao — Alla Science & Engineering — Andhra Pradesh
14. Ms Saina Nehwal — Sports-Badminton — Telangana
15. Ms Sania Mirza — Sports-Tennis — Telangana
16. Ms Indu Jain — Trade & Industry — Delhi
17. Late Swami Dayanand Sarawasati (Posthumous) — Others-Spiritualism — Uttarakhand
18. Shri Robert Blackwill (Foreigner) — Public Affairs — USA
19. Shri Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry (NRI/PIO) — Trade & Industry — Ireland

 The Padma Vibhushan is the second-highest civilian award of the Republic of India.Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for the "exceptional and distinguished service", without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex.The criteria includes the "service in any field including service rendered by Government servants" but excluding those working with the Public sector undertakings with the exception of doctors and scientists.The award has been bestowed on 294 individuals, including 6 posthumous and 19 non-citizen recipients.

Padma Vibhushan

1. Ms. Yamini Krishnamurthi — Art-Classical dance — Delhi
2. Shri Rajinikanth — Art-Cinema — Tamil Nadu
3. Smt Girija Devi — Art-Classical Vocal — West Bengal
4. Shri Ramoji Rao — Literature & Education-Journalism — Andhra Pradesh
5. Dr Viswanathan Shanta — Medicine-Oncology — Tamil Nadu
6. Shri Shri Ravi Shankar — Others-Spiritualism — Karnataka
7. Shri Jagmohan — Public Affairs — Delhi
8. Dr Vasudev Kalkunte Aatre — Science & Engineering — Karnataka
9. Shri Avinash Dixit(Foreigner) — Literature & Education — USA
10.Late Shri Dhiru Bhai Ambani (Posthumous) — Trade & Industry — Maharashtra

Debora Herold has written a page in history by becoming the first Indian cyclist to qualify for the Track Cycling World Championships to be staged in London between 2nd and 6th of March, later this year. The,qualification criteria for the event involved the points accumulated by cyclists in the Union Cycliste Internationale(UCI) conducted events and the 20-year-old from the Andamans had quite a exceptional performance where she won 5 medals at the Taiwan Cup Track International Classic, that was held in October, that included one gold, three silver medals  and one bronze medal. 

President Pranab Mukherjee has recently given consent to imposition of President’s Rule in the state of Arunachal Pradesh on the grounds of political instability. Controversy arose when the Governor of the state, Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa advanced the date of the convening of the assembly session. 

"President's rule" refers to the imposition of Article 356 of the Constitution of India on a State whose constitutional machinery has failed. In the event that a State government is not able to function as per the Constitution, the State comes under the direct control of the central government. The first instance of the imposition of President’s Rule was in 1954, when it was applied in the state of Andhra Pradesh. 

India’s first Braille embedded train embarked on its first journey from Mysuru to Varanasi on Tuesday. The railway station had recently installed navigation maps in Braille to guide visually challenged people to reach platforms. Mysuru – Varanasi Express, which leaves Mysuru for Varanasi on Tuesdays and Thursdays, have been provided withmetallic Braillev signage inside the coaches. These indicate the location of alarm pull chains, toilets, emergency windows, and berth numbers, for the convenience of the visually challenged. The Puri-Delhi Purushottam Express was the first train to have a Braille-embedded coach. However, the Mysuru-Varanasi Express is the first train in the country in which all coaches are Braille-embedded. 

Lance Naik Mohan Nath Goswami of the Special Forces, who took part in back-to-back operations in Jammu and Kashmir which resulted in killing of 10 terrorists in 11 days before being martyred, was posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra, the country's highest peacetime gallantry award, by President Pranab Mukherjee. 

The Ashoka Chakra- is India's highest peacetime military decoration awarded for valor, courageous action or self-sacrifice away from the battlefield. It is the peace time equivalent of the Param Vir Chakra, and is awarded for the "most conspicuous bravery or some daring or pre-eminent valor or self-sacrifice" other than in the face of the enemy. The decoration may be awarded either to military or civilian personnel and may be awarded posthumously. It replaced the British George Cross. 

Other Awards 

Kirti Chakra
 
1.Subedar Mahendra Singh, Sena Medal, 9 PARA (Special Force)
2. Sepoy Jagdish Chand (Posthumous), 546 DSC Platoon
 
Shaurya Chakra
 
Colonel Santosh Yashwant Mahadik (Posthumous), Sena Medal41 Rashtriya Rifle (PARA)
Major Praphul Kumar Bhardwaj, 12 PARA (Special Force)
Major Anurag Kumar, 9 PARA (Special Force)
Major Sandip Yadav, 55 Rashtriya Rifle (Armed)
Lieutenant Harjinder Singh,  3 KUMAON
Naik Satish Kumar (Posthumous), 21 Rashtriya Rifle (Guards)
Naik Kheem Singh Mehra, 21 KUMAON
Sepoy Dharma Ram (Posthumous), 1 Rashtriya Rifle (MAHAR)  

Veteran Bollywood actress Rekha was honoured with the third Yash Chopra Memorial Award in Mumbai on January 25. Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao presented the award to the actress in recognition of her talent and contribution to the film industry. The Foundation annually honours a distinguished senior film personality for outstanding contribution to film industry with a Gold Medal and a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh. The award has been instituted by the TSR Foundation of T Subbarami Reddy in the memory of the producer-director, who died in 2012.

On the occasion of the 67th Republic Day of India, India gifted around 40 ambulances and eight buses to different organizations in Nepal. India’s ambassador to Nepal, Ranjit Rae was present at the ceremony. The ambassador also gifted books to 52 libraries, schools and training institutes of Nepal.

A series of five books, for children, illustrative of the story of Param Veer Chakra awardees, was released by the Defense Minister, Manohar Parrikar. 'Veergatha' series seeks to introduce the great acts of bravery of the 'Param Veer Chakra' awardees to instill a sense of inspiration and patriotism in children.  The five books being released illustrate saga of bravery of Major Somnath Sharma (1947 war), Major Shaitan Singh (1962 war), CQMH Abdul Hamid (1965 war), Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal (1971 war) and Captain Manoj Kumar Pandey (1999 Kargil war).

About The Param Vir Chakra (PVC) -is India's highest military decoration awarded for the highest degree of valor or self sacrifice in the presence of the enemy. The PVC was established on 26 January 1950 by the President of India, with effect from 15 August 1947. It can be awarded to officers or enlisted personnel from all branches of the Indian military. It is the highest gallantry award of the Government of India after Ashoka Chakra. It replaced the former British colonial Victoria Cross (VC).